Latest cancer research offers plenty of food for thought

By Peter Pallot

12:00AM BST 19 Oct 2007

A new finding that weight loss cuts the risk of breast cancer is the latest development in the "lifestyle" debate.

The National Cancer Research Institute conference in Birmingham earlier this month heard that middle-aged women who lose weight and exercise twice weekly are 40 per cent less likely to develop breast cancer.

Prof Tony Howell, an oncologist at Manchester University Hospital Trust, said weight loss was the key factor, followed by a low-fat diet with plenty of oily fish.

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Over the past several decades "lifestyle factors" have become the new zeitgeist.

It started in the 1970s with the public health drive to tackle Britain's shockingly high heart disease rates. The campaign worked - one could say dramatically so.

The British Heart Foundation points to continuing annual falls in cardio-vascular disease since the 1970s.

Cancer is the other great killer. Here a less rosy picture emerges, with the incidence of some cancers soaring. But oncologists have picked up the lifestyle baton.

Just as Prof Howell unveils his research on weight, exercise and breast cancer, the charity Cancer Research UK is trying to bring home to people the links between cancer and lifestyle. Around half of cancers are related to lifestyle, it believes.

Take care in the sun

The obvious one is skin cancer. Cases of melanoma, the most dangerous form, have risen 40 per cent in the past decade.

Mouth cancer, linked to drinking and smoking, has shot up by a quarter. Tumours in the kidneys and the womb are both linked to obesity, and cases have risen sharply.

There is evidence to suggest that people often resolve to modify their lifestyles on doctors' orders, but rapidly fall by the wayside.

But for the thousands of Britons who retire each year to the Mediterranean or Florida, new opportunities for lifestyle change come within reach. And hazards. Yes, the sun is there more often, but it is also stronger, and the alcohol is cheaper.

Among the easiest healthy lifestyle choices is diet. A study two years ago showed that people aged 60 who stuck to a Mediterranean diet could expect to live a year longer than those who ate a typical north European diet.

Cardiologists have been advocating a Mediterranean diet – high in fruit and vegetables, low in meat and dairy products – since the 1960s. But until the 2005 study, their claims have rested on relatively small-scale research.

It encompassed more than half a million healthy volunteers in 23 centres.

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured on a nine-point scale, with high scores representing those that matched it best, and low scores those furthest away from it.

The results showed that an increase in the score was linked to lower overall mortality. For every two-point increase in score, deaths fell by eight per cent; for a three-point increase by 11 per cent; and for a four-point increase by 14 per cent.

Grasp the opportunities that relocation brings

So people who move to the Mediterranean should grasp opportunities that relocation brings – not just in diet, but in exercise, according to Cancer Research UK.

Ed Yong, the charity's health information officer, said: "For Britons who live in sunnier climates, there are plenty of opportunities to make lifestyle choices that will reduce the risk of cancer and improve health.

"Better weather adds to the appeal of exercising outdoors, including walking, running and swimming, which can reduce your risk of breast and bowel cancers.

"However, it's important to avoid sunburn by limiting your time in the sun during the heat of the day to reduce your risk of skin cancer."

• Bupa has given 84 private and NHS hospitals in Britain its quality assurance kite mark for top quality treatment of bowel cancer - another disease associated with lifestyle.

At the same time the insurer is pioneering a less invasive way of scanning patients for bowel cancer, which strikes 35,000 people a year in Britain.

A "virtual colonoscopy" inspects the bowel via a CT (computerised tomography) scanner, which is much less intrusive than the traditional fibre-optic examination.